The BQE expert panel released its fi nal report on the crumbling roadway on Jan. 30. Photo by Kevin Duggan CAN’T-ILEVERED!
Blaz’s ‘expert’ panel offers no solution for repair of BQE’s cantilievered section
The panel wants the city to reduce the BQE’s lanes from three (left) to
two (right) in either direction. Courtesy of The BQE Expert Panel
COURIER LIFE, FEBRUARY 7-13, 2020 3
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s expert
panel released their fi -
nal report on the beleaguered
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
on Thursday — recommending
a reduction in traffi c lanes
and an immediate start to construction
on the crumbling
thruway, which could become
unsafe within fi ve years, according
to the brain trust’s
head.
“The frightening truth is
the triple cantilever section
of the BQE is in dire condition
and sections may become
unsafe within the next fi ve
years,” said Carlo Scissura,
who chairs the 17-person panel
de Blasio convened in April.
The panel released their 72-
page report after more than
nine months of studying the
issue, but ultimately punted
on providing an actual fi x for
the 1.5 mile cantilevered section
of the roadway — instead
recommending another working
group, this time comprising
city, state, and federal offi
cials, along with community
stakeholders, to come up with
a fi nalized plan for the entire
BQE.
“A truly transformative
plan is urgently needed – one
that does not focus solely on
1.5 miles of a 20-mile corridor
but reimagines the entire road
from Staten Island to Brooklyn
to Queens,” Scissura’s statement
continued. “This panel
calls on our city, state and federal
governments to work together
and begin this critical
process immediately.”
In the meantime, offi cials
need to reduce the Robert Moses
era roadway’s lanes from
three to two in either direction
— turning the eliminated lane
into a 10-foot painted buffer to
discourage vehicle traffi c and
to extend the BQE’s life span,
the report says.
A whopping 150,000 vehicles
use the BQE everyday, including
more than 15,000 trucks —
as the interstate highway provides
a vital freight corridor.
The recommendations —
which were aimed at averting
impending disaster on the rapidly
deteriorating roadway —
were originally supposed to
be released last summer, and a
draft of it leaked to Politico on
Jan. 9.
The report rejects the many
more innovative approaches,
such as building a temporary
highway above the current
BQE during construction, or
tunneling car lanes beneath
the roadway — calling those
proposals either too costly or
too disruptive to surrounding
communities.
Those alternate plans surfaced
after Brooklyn Heights
residents shot down the city’s
proposal to build a temporary
highway on their beloved
promenade in September 2018.
The more modest proposal
released this week calls for the
city’s Department of Transportation
to discourage traffi c
by closing or restricting some
of the ramps leading on and
off the BQE, diverting some
vehicles to the Williamsburg
Bridge, and allowing small
trucks to utilize the Belt Parkway.
The city also needs to immediately
start fi xing the triple
cantilever and work with
city and state police to up enforcement
to keep oversize
trucks from using the roadway
— which cause disproportionate
damage to the structure,
along with limiting other
heavy trucks.
The report also advocates for
offi cials to expand an array of
public transportation alternatives
along the BQE corridor to
divert traffi c from the highway,
thereby extending its lifespan
as much as possible — including
a longer and more frequent
G-train, and express service
along the D, R, and F lines.
The panel also endorsed the
mayor’s recently-revived $2.73
billion trolley known as the
BQX, saying it provides “an
inexpensive and reliable alternative”
in the area, along with
the Bay Ridge-to-Bronx Triboro
line, expanded express
bus service, and a new ferry
stop at Sunset Park’s Pier 4.
In an effort to divert some
of the harmful freight traffi c,
the panel proposed construction
of the nearly $10 billion
Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel
that would link freight trains
in Bay Ridge and New Jersey.
Another alternative included
carrying more freight loads on
barges across the city’s waterways.
Other measures to curb
traffi c include the in-theworks
split two-way tolling
on the Verrazzano Bridge and
congestion pricing for traffi c
going into Manhattan, which
would make travel through
the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel a
more economical option.